The ad features Montanans sharing their thoughts about Senator Jon Tester’s harmful, hypocritical record of saying one thing in Montana, then doing the opposite in Washington, DC — and his dishonest, hypocritical attacks that are designed to distract Montanans from that out-of-touch record.

Despite his efforts to appear independent as he seeks re-election, reports show that Tester sides with President Obama’s costly, unpopular agenda 95 percent of the time in Washington.

“Senator Tester loves to talk about how Montana sends him to Washington with a suitcase full of good Montana beef — but what Tester brings back to Montana is a record of bad hypocrisy and 95 percent support for the Obama agenda,” said Rehberg spokesman Chris Bond. “Between his hypocritical, liberal record and his dishonest attacks, Tester is bringing a whole lot of Washington bologna back to Montana, and folks here aren’t going to tolerate it.”

Click here or on the screenshot below to view Denny’s new ad, which will begin running on television stations statewide on Thursday.

“After 35 years in politics, Dennis Rehberg can only run on a long record of irresponsible decisions that hurt Montana families,” said Tester campaign spokesman Aaron Murphy. “Montanans know that’s exactly why Congressman Rehberg is attacking Jon Tester’s record of cutting taxes, serving veterans and defending our values.”

Helena, Mont. — As Montana’s century-old tradition of keeping unlimited corporate money out of politics took a blow in court yesterday, Congressman Dennis Rehberg is doubling down on his belief that corporations are people.

Here’s what Rehberg said on a right-wing talk show* earlier this month:

Question: “Your thoughts on are corporations people, of course a criticism of Citizens United.”

Rehberg Answer: “The courts have made a determination that they are, so far be it for me to question the philosophy and the decision-making of the United States Supreme Court.”

Thanks to the Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision, which gives corporations the same rights as people, corporate special interests can spend unlimited money to influence elections through anonymous front groups. And they’ve already spent over $2 million in Montana to try to buy a Senate seat for Congressman Rehberg.

“It’s no surprise that Congressman Rehberg believes corporate special interests are people — they’re his longtime friends,” said Ted Dick, Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party. “Shadowy corporate front groups are spending big money on negative ads to repay Congressman Rehberg because he’s given them whatever they want. They know Congressman Rehberg will protect their special interests, like tax loopholes for corporations that ship jobs overseas, even if it means putting Medicare and Social Security at risk.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, released the following statement today after voting against the so-called ‘Ryan Budget’ citing concerns with changes made to Medicare. Rehberg, who was one of only four Republicans to vote against similar legislation last year, is also the only member of Montana’s delegation who opposed $500 billion in Medicare spending reductions in President Obama’s health care law.

“We have to reduce government spending and that’s why I introduced legislation that would cut $1.4 trillion from the deficit over ten years. We need to live within our means, and focus on spending reductions not tax hikes. From ending bailouts to reducing taxes, there are some good things in Congressman Ryan’s plan, but I simply refuse to gamble with something as important as Medicare. After President Obama and his Congressional allies cut half a trillion dollars from Medicare to pay for their new health care programs, I promised Montana’s seniors that any plan to change Medicare would need their support before it got mine. It was wrong when Democrats pushed through harmful changes to Medicare in 2009, and it’s wrong for Republicans to try and do the same thing in 2012. This isn’t about doing what’s best for the Republican Party or the Democrat Party, this is about doing what’s best for Montana. And I’ll continue to put Montana first.”

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester this week secured a commitment from the U.S. Air Force to deliver eight C-130s to Great Falls by 2014.

The Air Force originally announced the C-130 mission for the Montana Air National Guard in February, but it was uncertain when the cargo planes would arrive. The mission is expected to provide hundreds of jobs for Montana Airmen and members of the Great Falls community.

At a Senate hearing this week to consider the Air Force’s budget, Tester pressed Air Force Assistant Secretary Terry Yonkers and Air National Guard Deputy Director General William Etter for more specifics on the C-130s’ arrival.

“We’d like to do it as soon as possible,” Etter told Tester. “But we need time to make sure we address the military construction issues and also training, conversion, and new facilities.”

Etter said that within 90 days, he would provide Tester with an exact date for the C-130s’ arrival.

Yonkers said that the Air Force is setting aside $27 million to accommodate the C-130s and new construction needs, such as bigger aircraft hangers. The officials told Tester that even if the hangers are not completed in time, MANG’s existing facilities could handle the C-130s.

Tester today also met with the Director of the Air National Guard, Lieutenant General Harry “Bud” Wyatt, who confirmed that the C-130s will be MANG’s next flight mission. Fellow Montana Senator Max Baucus joined Tester and Wyatt.

Tester has fought for years to deliver a new manned flying mission to Great Falls, most recently reminding the Defense Department that Montana is the “ideal fit” for the C-130s and vowing not to rest “until the last of the C-130s lands in Great Falls.”

As you may have noticed, Senator Jon Tester has been trying awfully hard to turn reporters’ and voters’ attention away from big issues like jobs and the economy, and focus this race instead on campaign finance. Tester and his team have been expending a great deal of time and effort decrying “unaccountable” outside spending and influence in Montana’s U.S. Senate race — in op-eds, campaign emails, interviews, and a substantial internet ad campaign…

While it’s no surprise that Tester would prefer to talk about anything other than his record of 95 percent support for President Barack Obama’s unpopular agenda in Washington, it’s worth pointing out that even on this issue of his own choosing — campaign finance — Tester’s credibility is strained at best, because his words and deeds don’t even come close to matching up…

The most recent example of Tester’s campaign finance hypocrisy is that, while he decries the influence of third-party ads run by PACs, Tester is actively soliciting that same type of support from liberal PACs, and he’s even doing it through the news media. As Roll Callreports today:

…[M]any House and Senate candidates who publicly decry super PACs are benefiting from the outside groups that back them… “Montana is a state that takes great pride in transparency in government, and this just goes against that,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)… Rehberg’s campaign countered that Tester’s allies, including labor, environmental and women’s groups, have spent more than $1 million in the race. Rehberg proposed that he and Tester refund all donations from political action committees and lobbyists and raise money only in Montana. Tester, who relies heavily on lobbyist donations, said that would leave him no way to respond to third-party attacks. But he also told Roll Call that he would welcome outside spenders who backed him: “I’m hoping that there are some PACs out there that will support me.”

Meanwhile, even Tester’s own campaign is having a tough time making sense of his hypocritical posture on this issue. Just look at the rhetorical gymnastics Tester’s campaign is forced to go through in this interview with the Havre Daily News just days ago. Note how, when confronted with inconvenient facts, Tester’s campaign is forced to awkwardly try to pick and choose between which anonymously-funded third-party ads are acceptable or not, while at the same time struggling to defend Tester’s own corporate allies in the banking industry running ads on his behalf:

Rehberg’s campaign responds by calling [Tester’s web ads attacking third-party spending] “hypocritical,” saying Tester has benefited with more than $1 million in spending by third-party groups, and citing an offer Rehberg made for both candidates to return all out-of-state money contributed to their campaigns… Tester’s campaign spokesman Aaron Murphy said this morning that he disputes those figures, and that he believes the Rehberg campaign is including every advertisement that mentions Tester or Rehberg, rather than looking at television ads that specifically attack or support their candidacy… Background information provided by Bond said part of the hypocrisy is Tester benefiting from more than $330,000 in advertising by the Electronic Payments Coalition, “rewarding Tester for carrying their swipe fee legislation in the Senate. ” Murphy said ads from a banking organization thanking Tester for helping their cause does not compare to Crossroads GPS or the U. S. Chamber running attack ads against him.

It’s remarkable to see Team Tester struggle to make any sense at all on what they seem to believe is a good issue for them…

As a reminder, this all comes just weeks after Tester hypocritically rejected Denny Rehberg’s offer to remove all outside spending and influence from Montana’s U.S. Senate race, because Tester refuses to part with the huge sum of money he has taken from lobbyists and out-of-state special interests. In fact, even as he continues to decry special interests, Tester has taken more lobbyist campaign cash during this election cycle than any of the other 534 members of Congress. Hypocritically, Tester ran for Senate in 2006 on a promise that he would provide Montana with representation “not encumbered by high-dollared lobbyists,” andpromised, “I won’t sell Montana down the road by cutting deals with K Street lobbyists.” Sadly, Tester has falsely denied his #1 lobbyist money ranking before, so linked here is a non-partisan report establishing that fact, just in case you need to remind him of the truth…

An investigative report published just days ago by Politico helps shed some light on how Tester became the #1 recipient of lobbyist campaign cash in Congress, as the publication pulled back the curtain on a pattern of unethical strong-arm fundraising tactics by Senator Tester’s lobbyist allies and the Baucus “operation” on Tester’s behalf.New York Magazine is calling the tactics part of “a political bribery transaction.”

Given the facts, it would be understandable for reporters and the public to be left scratching their heads, asking themselves — what does it say about Senator Tester’s re-election campaign when he’s not even particularly credible on the issue he and his team are attempting to make the focus of this race?

Fort Harrison selected as national test site to improve claims processing

(U.S. SENATE) – Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus are heralding news that VA Montana has been selected as a national test site to speed up claims processing for Montana’s veterans.

Fort Harrison was selected as one of three sites in the nation to serve as a test location for the Veterans Benefits Administration proposal to streamline the claims process. Tester met last month with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to personally ask for additional initiatives for Fort Harrison.

The Veterans Administration has faced a backlog in processing claims from veterans seeking earned benefits relating to disability compensation and education benefits. The VA nationwide currently has nearly 600,000 claims that have been pending for over 125 days.

The backlog at the VA has grown substantially since veterans began returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Tester has used his position on the Veterans Affairs Committee to push the VA to address the backlog by providing better training to staff tasked with reviewing claims, streamlining paperwork, and transitioning to an electronic system to standardize the system.

Tester and Baucus recently wrote a letter to Shinseki asking him to consider moving the VBA Regional Director’s office from Salt Lake City to Fort Harrison. The Senators have repeatedly pushed for the VA to include Montana in many of its new initiatives because of Fort Harrison’s track record of performance and experience.

Today’s news from the VA will mean seven new jobs at Fort Harrison.

Tester brought Shinseki to tour Fort Harrison in July. During that visit, Shinseki was impressed with the performance of the staff at the VA.

“Montana’s veterans deserve timely answers to their claims, and long delays that threaten health care are unacceptable ” said Tester, Montana’s only member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “This is good news for all of the veterans currently caught up in the paperwork at the VA. I look forward to Fort Harrison improving the claims process and serving as a model for the rest of the country.”

“It is a disgrace that our veterans have to wait so long to find out whether they are eligible for benefits,” said Baucus. “In many cases, veterans sustain these injuries serving our country overseas and they should not have to wait so long to find out whether they are eligible for benefits they not only deserve, but have earned. I’m proud of the hard-working folks at Fort Harrison for helping reduce the backlog of our veterans’ disability claims. Now, Fort Harrison will remain on the cutting edge by helping the VA make the changes necessary to rise to the level of service our veterans deserve.”